What is Going On Here??? Am I Entitled to a Trust Accounting? Part One

[Music] Hi this is Keith Davidson from Albertson and Davidson in this video I want to talk about whether or not you as a trust beneficiary are entitled to an accounting and the answer is maybe which is a typical lawyer answer but let's go through who is and who is not necessarily entitled to a trust accounting for starters all current beneficiaries income and principle beneficiaries are entitled to an accounting of the trust assets unless the trust actually waives that right but if you're a current income or principal beneficiary of a trust you are entitled to an accounting if you're a remainder beneficiary meaning that your rights aren't vested yet but they'll come into place after a current beneficiary passes away then you may be entitled to an accounting but you're not entitled to an accounting as a matter of right it'll be up to the discretion of the California probate court what you are entitled to as a remainder beneficiary is information so you should be able to get and you are entitled to receive any information about the trust assets the trust administration and anything else that deals with the business of the trust now that's different from an accounting and accounting is a formal document that sets out charges and credits in a very systematic way as required by the probate code but information can be just as good if not better so for example if you receive a copy of all the bank statements or all the financial account statements that might be just as good as an accounting because you can look at those and you can see what's been happening with the finances of the trust so just because you're not entitled to an accounting doesn't mean that you're left out in the dark you might still be entitled to information now there's a big caveat here everything I just talked about is for irrevocable trust those are trusts that can't be amended or changed if the trust is revocable then the trustee only owes a duty to the person has the power to revoke it which typically is the person who created it so if mom and dad created revocable trust and they named themselves as trustee they don't have an obligation to give you information while they're alive but once they pass and the trust becomes irrevocable which is usually what happens now your rights come into existence and you have a right to either in accounting or information depending on the type of beneficiary you are. [Music] [Applause] [Music]